


A Pet by Any Other Name

by Pervasive_Threnody



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Cats, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Gen, Other, Please Don't Hate Me, Reincarnation, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 21:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2040651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pervasive_Threnody/pseuds/Pervasive_Threnody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I sniff out the Whiskees and work out my frustration on the bag until it shreds and the kibbles go flying everywhere.  As I shovel it in I realize when this food runs out I'm going to die here.  I chomp the food faster and start to yowl at the same time and my dignity is ruined forever but I don't have time to care.  Somebody, anybody!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Pet by Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> So I think this is really just an advertisement for a story called "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot," which is much, much better, and you should go read it instead. 
> 
> [Beat]
> 
> Those of you who haven't stampeded away from the crazy person, awesome. Thanks!
> 
> Inspired by an adorable fan art (what else?) of Goku snuggling a fluffy kitter-cat. I decided it would be extra-adorable if there was a story about Sanzo being reincarnated as Goku's kitter-cat, and here's a picture of Goku cuddling it and the kitter-cat is all, sigh, and pretends to hate it but of course doesn't really. But this came out instead. 
> 
> I don't even know what "this" is. As always when I foist this kind of saccharine-infused pablum upon the literary world, I am so very, very sorry.

How I got in this body I have no idea. The last thing I remember is falling asleep in bed, and when I wake up again I'm squirming among a litter of my brothers and sisters. I try to say something to them but all I can do is squeak. My legs won't hold me up and I'm nearly blind. It's all too much to take and I duck underneath a pile of fluff and try to disappear.

The Sage of Heaven a house pet, and it would make me laugh if it weren't so pathetic. If I even could laugh.

But being a cat's not so bad, really. Meals are regular and there's a warm body or three to curl up next to at night. There's no danger here. I close my eyes and relax.

As I get older and more rambunctious the box I started this life in gets too small. Right about the time my siblings and I start biting for real when we fall on top of each other, a hand reaches in and scoops me out and carries me away. I never see my family again. 

I'm sold to a pet shop, then to a lonely old woman. Surprisingly she doesn't have thirty other friends for me to play with; I'm the only one. Life is good if kind of boring. The most exciting parts of the day are meal times and sitting at the plate glass door looking outside. I can sleep as much as I want, there's treats sometimes, and even if the food is dry and not very satisfying, at least it's regular, nourishing food. The nice old lady pets and spoils me and lets me sleep on her quilt at night. A cat really can't ask for much more than that.

One morning I meow for my breakfast -- some things never change -- but today the old woman doesn't wake up, doesn't even roll over. I touch a paw to her face. It's cold, and I realize she's dead. I'm genuinely sad because she was nice and now there's no one left to feed me food or treats. But I'm a cat, and I can't cry, so I leave the bed without looking back.

I hope she died peacefully.

I spend the day milling around, grooming, not worrying too much because there's still a little food in my bowl, water in the toilet, and I'm sure there's a bag of Whiskees somewhere in the pantry I can tear open with my teeth and claws if it comes to that. There are birds to heckle outside the plate glass window and when I get bored telling them off, I tell myself things will be fine. Someone will come soon.

A day passes, then another before I start to get nervous. The day after that I really begin to worry. I look for a way out of the house but I already know there's no cat-flap, no open window, nothing. 

I sniff out the Whiskees and work out my frustration on the bag until it shreds and the kibbles go flying everywhere. As I shovel it in I realize when this food runs out I'm going to die here. I chomp the food faster and start to yowl at the same time and my dignity is ruined forever but I don't have time to care. _Somebody, anybody!_

I stuff myself full of Whiskees and puke it right back up, then crash next to the pile of puke and pass out. What a way to go.

When I wake up, crack an eye and look out through the slit and remember what happened, I wonder how much time has passed. My human is dead and I'm still alive, lying beside a puke pile. There's no way out of here and I am going to die.

Then I hear footsteps, voices. Must have been what woke me up. The door opens and there's humans talking in clipped tones, giving orders, taking direction. I hear them hurry toward the smell of death in the bedroom and wait for someone to notice me. I'm saved! Right?

The people sounds disappear. Nobody can see me in this corner. What if they leave me? I was so close to being rescued! I don't want to die! 

_Help, please help!_

No one hears, and I can't take anymore. Too weak to get up, I close my eyes and wait for the end to come, hope my next life will be better...

"Crazy cat lady left it here to die," a voice rumbles above my head, and every hair on my body stiffens at the sound and everything I'd forgotten comes back in a rush. 

It can't be. It just _can't._

Something nudges my side, mutters, "Dumb thing probably ate itself to death," and I try to say _No! I'm alive!_ but the best I can do is a pitiful meow.

"Hunh. Not dead, then." There's a smile in that voice and I know, I just _know_. I open my eyes and look up, and my heart jumps out of my little chest as I almost die right then and there. The shock trembles all the way through my body, bone-deep.

Gods, gods, it's _him_ and I don't know what to do or say, and he's looking down at me with those stunning gorgeous eyes and his hair's falling around him like a waterfall of liquid sunshine and I can't think because I'm remembering everything I didn't even know I'd forgotten and he's _here_ and how could I not have _remembered?_

Oh, Sanzo...

"Stupid cat," he rumbles with a frown, trying to sound angry, but there's no mistaking the same compassion I felt from him when we first met _again_ and I pleaded to know the name of the one who took me from the darkness. I'm pleading again now. _Please, Sanzo, please don't leave me again._

I don't know if he hears me. I may never know. All I care about is right now he's lifting me in his strong arms, and I wouldn't resist even if I could. I bump my head under his chin and sniff his skin and purr and purr. I think about how I could do this every day for the rest of my life, whenever I want, tucked to his side, at his feet, in his arms. Just me and him, like it used to be. I want nothing else. I've never wanted anything else.

As his arms tighten around me and that rich, husky voice murmurs just loud enough for the two of us, I realize if I died and went to heaven I'd turn around and come straight back because there's no heaven better than the one I've got right here.

_You're going to be staying with me for a while._

**Author's Note:**

> So. Uh. Yeah. If you actually finished this, you rock. Fistbump! Adios, fandom muchachos!


End file.
